Making it to the Gulf...

How vividly the scene is painted in many Australian history books of how Burke and Wills tragically died, having come within striking distance of the Gulf of Carpentaria! I read part of that to Mark in preparation for our visit to their last marked camp.  It was a hot afternoon (it got to 35 degrees in Normanton), there was a dry wind and the scene looked monotonously the same - low level trees and scrub that offer no real shade or relief, and a parched earth.  We were only out in it for ten minutes as well and had a satisfying lunch before we went. It was still hard to imagine what it would have been like for them!

After this, we went the final 70 odd kms from Normanton to Karumba on the coast. Originally, I thought this would be our only opportunity to peek at the Gulf of Carpentaria but we did have that trip with the Mission Awareness Group out to a different section of the Gulf in NT (near Borroloola).  Still, we enjoyed strolling and hopping along the beach esplanade, having some fresh prawns and the best hot chips I have ever had at a local eatery and then did some four wheel driving down a beach track to see even further down into the Gulf.

We got back after sunset and the boys went to the hot artesian spa that they had at the caravan park. We’re working our way over to the coast now and I’ll report tomorrow on our time at a surprise location.

I'll also add photos later as I am on a slow drip feed free connection at our caravan park and it is torturous!

One of the tree from the B & W Camp.  

The largest croc killed in Australia was 9 metres long.  This is a replica of it in Normanton.

The Gulf of Carpentaria at Karumba Point